TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Supreme Court docket on Monday dismissed Okinawa’s rejection of a central authorities plan to construct U.S. Marine Corps runways on the island and ordered the prefecture to approve it regardless of protests by locals who oppose the American troops’ presence.
Monday’s ruling upheld a excessive court docket ruling in March that the central authorities’s plan and its instruction for Okinawa’s approval are legitimate. It’ll transfer ahead the suspended development at a time Okinawa’s strategic position is seen more and more necessary for the Japan-U.S. navy alliance within the face of rising tensions with China.
Japan’s central authorities started the reclamation work on the Henoko space on the japanese coast of Okinawa’s essential island in 2018 to pave the way in which for the relocation of the Marine Corps Futenma air station from a crowded neighborhood on the island.
The federal government later came upon about 70% of the reclamation website is on smooth floor, and submitted a revision to the unique plan with extra land enchancment. The Okinawa prefectural authorities rejected the revision as inadequate and suspended the reclamation work.
The bottom enchancment plan requires tens of 1000’s of pillars and large quantities of soil, which opponents say would injury the atmosphere.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki has known as for a big discount of the U.S. navy in Okinawa, the rapid closure of the Futenma base and the scrapping of a base development in Henoko.
The Japanese and U.S. governments initially agreed in 1996 to shut the Futenma air station, a 12 months after the rape of a schoolgirl by three U.S. navy personnel led to an enormous anti-base motion. However persistent protests and lawsuits between Okinawa and Tokyo have held up the plan for practically 30 years.
Tokyo and Washington say the relocation inside Okinawa, as an alternative of transferring it elsewhere as demanded by many Okinawans, is the one answer.
Okinawa, which accounts for less than 0.6% of Japanese land, is burdened with nearly all of the 50,000 American troops based mostly within the nation below a bilateral safety pact, and 70% of U.S. navy services are in Okinawa.
The Japanese authorities lately has more and more stepped up its personal defenses to take care of China’s rising assertiveness, triggering worry amongst Okinawan residents that they would be the first to be embroiled in a possible battle.
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